Box insists “plan hasn’t changed” after reports of delays to IPO

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Cloud storage firm Box claimed its "plan hasn’t changed" following a Wall Street Journal report that the firm may delay its April IPO until June at the earliest.

The newspaper cited anonymous sources suggesting that the US startup was unconvinced of the strength of the technology market just days after Twitter’s shares dropped 11% amid slow user growth.

But when CBR contacted Box, the file-sharing company issued a robust denial that its planned stock market debut has ever had a set date.

However, the spokesman acknowledged that timing was key for the firm’s flotation.

He said: "Since filing, we’ve planned on going [public] when it makes the most sense for the market. That plan hasn’t changed."

It’s certainly true that Box has never been very public over going public.

The April IPO date, while heavily rumoured, has never been endorsed by the company, though it did file for flotation back in late March.

That was the first anyone officially heard about its hopes to raise $250m, while the documents also revealed its 25 million-strong user base – including 40% of Fortune 500 companies.

While the firm has grown impressively – from 369 employees in January 2012 to 972 employees in January this year – its Box’s accumulated deficit also stood at $361m at the start of 2014.

There’s also a sense that the momentum around tech flotations has been punctured somewhat of late, with Tech Crunch last month reporting that "Box faces stiffer market conditions than existed six months ago".

However, when the market will improve is, right now, anyone’s guess. Box has enough on its hands right now as it competes with other cloud storage companies gunning for enterprise market domination.

Box CEO Aaron Levie recently engaged in a war of blog posts (it’s a thing, ok?) with Microsoft over their respective cloud offerings, while other competitors include the likes of Citrix, EMC and Dropbox.